Towns of Spokane County, Washington

Airway Heights

Airway Heights, is a city in Spokane County, Washington, United States, just west of Spokane. The city’s name was taken from its close proximity to Fairchild Air Force Base and Spokane International Airport.

Growth in the City was spurred by the opening of the Airway Heights Correction Center by the Washington State Department of Corrections in 1992 and the opening of the Northern Quest Resort & Casino by the Kalispel Indian Tribe. City Homepage http://www.cawh.org/

Amber

Amber is an unincorporated community in Spokane County. The town, which has few residents, is located along Amber Lake.

Chattaroy

Chattaroy is an unincorporated community in Spokane County. The town is located on U.S. Route 2 approximately 10 miles north-northeast of Spokane at the confluence of the Little Spokane River and Dragoon Creek.

Founded in the 1880s, Chattaroy is located two miles east of the defunct Spokane Falls & Northern Railway’s Dragoon station. Residents were buried in the Chattaroy cemetery as early as 1888. In 1900 the community consisted of approximately 250 residents, two general stores, Barker’s Hotel, a drug store operated by a Dr. Smith, a blacksmith shop, a public school with some 60 students, a Congregational church ministered by Reverend F. McConaughy, a Sunday school, and a Modern Woodmen of America hall.

Cheney

Colbert

Colbert, is an unincorporated community in Spokane County, Washington, United States. The town is on U.S. Route 2.

There are two churches in Colbert, both within a half mile of each other. The first is Colbert Presbyterian, and the second is St. Joseph’s Parish (Catholic).

Country Homes

Country Homes, is a census-designated place in Spokane County, Washington, United States. The population was 5,203 at the 2000 census.

Deer Park

Deer Park was officially incorporated on June 24, 1908. Deer Park got its name when railroad surveyors saw deer grazing in the area. Deer Park was settled in 1889 when a railroad siding was built for the Spokane Falls & Northern Railway. Soon the Standard Lumber Company sawmill was established by William Short and George Crawford to provide the lumber needed to rebuild the nearby city of Spokane Falls (later renamed Spokane following the great fire of 1889). By 1900 the population of Deer Park was approximately 300 residents. In addition to the sawmill the community consisted of three general stores (owned separately by P. Kelly, Dan Weis, and A. Baldwin), a blacksmith and harness shop, a livery and feed stable, Jeff Moore’s hotel, Dr. Prince’s drug store, a public school with approximately 75 students, and a Congregational church led by Rev. F. McConaughy. By this time there were as many as eight sawmills within ten miles of Deer Park, all of which got their supplies in, and employed members of, the town.

Arcadia Apple Orchards Company was established c. 1904 and orchards of apple trees were planted on the land surrounding Deer Park which had been cleared by the logging activity. Deer Park Chamber of Commerce

Dishman

Dishman, is a former census-designated place. Dishman has been part of Spokane Valley since 2003.

Elk

Elk is an unincorporated rural community in northern Spokane County. It was once incorporated, prior to reverting to the County. It contains an elementary school that has been renovated and is now a residence, at least two churches, a VFW hall, a post office, a cemetery, the newspaper office for the Elk Sentinel, a fire station and a number of residences.

The community of Elk annually designates a weekend in June, usually father’s day weekend, for the Elk Settler’s Days. Elk Days as it is usually called is an event full of food, fun, and music. It is held at Elk Park in downtown Elk and the festivities include a parade, crowning of the Elk Days royalty, continuous live music throughout the weekend, food, and merchandise booths, usually sporting a plethora of hand-crafted goods. There is also often a dance at the VFW.

Elk also hosts a number of other community events including the annual Chili-Chowder Cook-off, an Easter Egg Hunt at the VFW, the Christmas Tree Lighting in Elk Park, a Halloween party at the VFW, and almost weekly dances and live music at the VFW which regularly features local acts such as the band Schmoe.

Fairfield

Fairfield has many events. The most popular event is called Flag Day. Flag day is a day to remember those who have fought to keep the flag flying. In the morning there is a Fun Run at 7 a.m. followed by the official Flag Day parade down Main St. at approximately 10:30 a.m. Then throughout the day there are fun games, booths, and a beer garden that’s open all day. Home of Fairchild Air Force Base

Fairwood

Fairwood, is a census-designated place.

Four Lakes

Four Lakes is a small unincorporated community in Spokane County, just southwest of the city of Spokane, and north of Cheney. Both Interstate 90 and SR 904 run through Four Lakes and the junction of the two is located near the center of town.

The small town is also home to The Battle of Four Lakes. The granite monument for this battle can be viewed at the corner of 1st Street and Electric Ave. in Four Lakes. The Battle of Four Lakes occurred on September 1, 1858, approximately five miles north of the City of Cheney in the unincorporated town locally known as Four Lakes, Washington. The Battle of Four Lakes was the final battle in a two phase expedition against a confederation of the Coeur de Alene, Spokane, Palouse and Northern Paiute Indian tribes from the States of Washington and Idaho (the “Confederated Tribes”), which began in August 1856. The two phases of the expedition, together constituted the Yakima War and the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene-Paloos War. Indian attacks on U.S. troops in the greater inland pacific northwest started the expedition as the Yakima War, or the first phase of expedition. In the second phase, Commander of the Department of the Pacific, General Newman S. Clarke sent a force of soldiers under command of Colonel George Wright to deal with a Confederated Tribes from Washington and Idaho, in what is known as the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene-Paloos War. Col. Wright’s troops were well armed with the latest weaponry, and engaged members of the Confederated Tribes under command of Chief Kamiakin just north of present day Cheney and over a four day period and routed the Confederated Tribes in the Battle of Four Lakes, who then sued for peace. The Battle of Four Lakes was the final battle in the expedition. The war was officially ended at a council called by Col. Wright at Latah Creek (southwest of Spokane) on September 23, 1858 which imposed a peace treaty on tribes. Under this treaty most of the tribes were sent to reservations. It was reported that Col. Wright did not lose one soldier in the Battle of Four Lakes. A memorial to the battle was erected on the spot of the battle in 1935 by the Spokane County Pioneer Society. The informational content of the monument is disputed. The monument claims that a force of 700 U.S. Soldiers, defeated a force of 5,000 Indians at the Battle of Four Lakes. Many historical accounts dispute this and suggest that the U.S. Force consisted of 500 Soldiers and 200 muleskinners and the forces of the Confederated Tribes numbered no more than 500. After the Battle of Four Lakes, Chief Kamiakin fled to Canada. The Battle of Four Lakes is also known locally as the Battle of Spokane Plains, because as the battle raged on it spread from the Four Lakes area out to the plains area directly west of the City of Spokane and North East of the City of Cheney.

Green Acres

Green Acres, is a former census-designated place. Green Acres is the spelling used officially by the Census Bureau, though the spelling Greenacres is more common locally. Most of Greenacres has been part of the city of Spokane Valley since incorporation in 2003. Greenacres also has two schools in the Central Valley School District named after it; Greenacres Middle School and Greenacres Elementary School.

Green Bluff

Latah

Latah, is a town in Spokane County.

Latah was officially incorporated on April 9, 1892.

Liberty Lake

Liberty Lake, is an incorporated city in Spokane County, on the Idaho state line. Liberty Lake is a suburb of Spokane, Washington. Thus, it is situated between Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Liberty Lake was named after an Etienne Edward Laliberte (A French Canadian-1871), later he changed his name to Steve Liberty, a mail carrier and homesteader by the Lake.

Liberty Lake was officially incorporated on August 31, 2001. The lake itself is located outside of the city limits as it is outside the urban growth boundary. City Homepage  

Medical Lake

Medical Lake, is a city in Spokane County. It also houses one mental hospital, Eastern State Hospital. City Homepage 

Marshall

Marshall

Mead

Mead is a small unincorporated farming community north of Spokane in Spokane County. This rural area is not tracked by the United States Census Bureau.

In 1900 Mead was the second stop on the Spokane Falls & Northern Railway. The community included the Cushing & Bryant general store, a blacksmith shop, a public school with approximately 60 students, a Methodist Episcopal church, and a Sunday school. At the time the post office was located in the Cushing & Bryant store.

The Mead School District, which is named after the town of Mead, as their very first school was built there, enrolls approximately 9000 students in two high schools, two middle schools, and eight elementary schools. The district also has an alternative high school.

Mead is home to the computer game development firm, Cyan Worlds, makers of Myst and Riven. The Kaiser Aluminum Mead Works, which operated as a leading area employer from 1942 until curtailment in 2001, is nearby.

Milan

Milan is an unincorporated community in Spokane County. Milan is a rural community located along the Burlington Northern Railroad, east of Deer Park. It is named after the Italian city of Milan.

In 1900 Milan was an important shipping point on the Great Northern Railway. There were two sawmills in the community, and two more within a couple of miles, which supplied lumber to the city of Spokane. James Conalton was Milan’s postmaster and storekeeper at the time.

Millwood

Millwood was officially incorporated on October 26, 1927. it was named for the local paper mill.

According to the Tacoma Public Library’s Washington Place Names database: “In 1900, it was chosen as a station by the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene Electric Railway, and was named Woodward’s for the family who owned the land along the railway route. When Inland Empire Paper Company built a paper mill they requested a name change to Milltown. Railway officials refused the change unless the Woodward family agreed. A compromise resulted, using the word mill combined with the first four letters of Woodward. It was incorporated October 27, 1927.” City Homepage 

Newman Lake

Newman Lake, City Homepage 

Opportunity

Opportunity, is a former census-designated place in Spokane County. The area has been a city neighborhood of Spokane Valley since the city incorporated in 2003.

Otis Orchards-East Farm

Otis Orchards-East Farms, is a census-designated place in Spokane County, near the county’s border with Idaho.

Otis Orchards-East Farms is north of the Spokane River from Liberty Lake, Washington and west of Rathdrum, Idaho and Stateline, Idaho. Part of Otis Orchards was recently incorporated into the new city of Spokane Valley. Otis Orchards is in the eastern part of the Spokane River valley, and is in the Spokane, Washington metro area.

Plaza

Rockford

Rockford is a town in Spokane County. Rockford was officially incorporated on June 18, 1890.

Spangle

Spangle, is a town in Spokane County. The name is from William Spangle, early pioneer.

Some people believe that Spangle is where Butch Cassidy (Robert Leroy Parker) died from cancer in 1937, but the place and date of this individual’s death remains unresolved.

Spangle is also notable as the home of Upper Columbia Academy and Liberty High School. Upper Columbia Academy, a boarding high school affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, is approximately 2 miles southeast of Spangle. 5.5 miles East of Upper Columbia Academy is Liberty High School, a rural school serving the communities of Spangle, Plaza, Fairfield, Mount Hope, Latah, and Waverly. It is a “B” school that has a total of around 450 students (K-12).

Town and Country

Trentwood

Trentwood, is a former census-designated place n Spokane County. Trentwood has been part of the city of Spokane Valley since it incorporated in 2003.

Tyler

Valleyford

Veradale

Veradale, is a former census-designated place in Spokane County. Since 2003, the area has been incorporated as part of the city of Spokane Valley.

Waverly

Waverly is a town in Spokane County. The population was 121 at the 2000 census.

Waverly was settled by white immigrants as early as 1878. The following year the community received a post office at the residence of A.D. Thayer on Hangman Creek (now Latah Creek), where it remained for five years.

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